What Bills Do You Keep? Any?

I learned a lesson...
I always threw everything away. Who cares right? I can't stand a mess and it was cluttering my desk. My husband doesn't, he keeps everything. He is from mexico so when we were going through the immigration hell process, we ended up having to prove for the previous 3 yrs we lived together, had bills, bank statements, ect. If it had been me, we would of been screwed! Now that's that done with I keep every other month just in case. Better safe than sorry!

We get almost all electronic bills/statements, so we don't get many paper bills in the mail. It's easier that way because we can just pay them online too, so no checks/envelopes/stamps needed.

The bills/statements we do get in the mail, I keep in our files for a year. After that, they get shredded.

I keep receipts and any bills that I may have issue with for a month, like Comcast just to have proof that the bill was SUPPOSED to be....
I keep all mortgage statements, bank statements, etc monthly utilities gets torn up.

If you can scan your bills and store them on your computer, you'll have them if you need them. My hubby's work started doing this and I'd love to do this at home. =) You can just keep the 3 most current bills and then throw the rest away and when you file the newest one, throw the oldest one away.

I keep the most recent of every bill just in case there is a problem on the account. After that, they go to the shredder.

I keep them for about a year and when I do taxes each spring, I pull out the "old" ones and dispose (shred or burn) of them.

I keep everything I pay. Phone bills, electric bills, quarterly trash bills, etc. You never know when someone's records will have a "glitch" and they will mischarge or over charge you. Or say they didn't receive the payment. It makes it easier FOR ME, having the peace of mind that I don't have to sort back through old bank statements searching... I just pull out that file (electricity bill for example) and go to that month and ON that statement I have written the check number, date and amount paid. Easy peasy. If I need a copy of the payment---I know in moments exactly which check #. I also find that it is eye opening to scan back through periodically and realize how MUCH each one has gone up over time. And I usually keep the original first time issued bill for any service until that service is discontinued (for example, Direct TV). I know what we were paying 8 years ago for service, and what that service provided. Interesting to look back. Depressing actually. :(

we shred anything that has our names or address on it. My husband is paranoid about identity theft and so if it doesn't get shredded, then it goes in the fireplace

I keep them all in a three ring binder sorted by month...we keep the binders a couple of years and then shred them...well the papers not the binders.

I like have a paper record just in case...of what I am not sure...but just in case.

Go electronic. I am just doing the same thing - I hate paper!!! Even when you go electronic they are still sending out unsolicited mail addressed to you - such a pain. Sometimes I think I'm going to drown in it. I'm keeping what I do have for a year and then out it goes.

If you pay your bills online, the copies are kept there for easy access and you never even have to get a paper statement. It save time and trees :) You can pay most bills through your bank, a credit card or mycheckfree.com

Keep it for 7 years!! In case you are audiated for tax

We keep the paper copies for a year, typically. It has come in handy when we had to make copies of things that were no longer available online as a dispute for the companies. We also mark the date the payment is mailed, the amount paid and the check number on each bill.

we keep our water, electric and gas...we keep our quarterly mortgage...

i would keep any credit card statements (if we had any anymore!!) for big purchases like mattresses, TVs, etc. things with value or warranty where you will need show proof of purchase or being the original owner..

other than that? it's all shredded....

I do pretty much exactly the same thing as AV. Everything stays for a year, except the mortgage statements. Those (from what I understand) are better to be kept for upwards of five years as a "just in case" for tax purposes.